Day 7 - Yellowstone!

As I said, with no camp to strike we got a nice start the next morning and we headed toward Yellowstone. To get to the park, we were taking the Beartooth Highway to the Northeast Entrance. As I keep saying: Absolutely Beautiful. The road winds through mountains top to bottom, with beautiful overlooks everywhere.

We hopped out at a couple including one summit where the wind was blowing about as hard as I have ever felt:



There was an old fire lookout that provided amazing views as well, but the thing I remember most about it was the flowers on the road up to the tower:



So, we are miles into the trip, we’ve all been craning our necks along the drive to see the sights, when J1 looks at me and says, “You know, this would be great in a convertible.” So, after lengthy consideration, I decided that he would be allowed back in the car (In all fairness – I really couldn’t have happier – perfect delivery, perfect timing, it brought tears of pride to my eye).

Also, this was the first time my boys had seen Mountains. They’d both been through the Appalachians, so they had technically seen mountains, but out West that word takes on a different meaning; these are Mountains.

I love driving these roads for the little, surprise events: these cascades are just a passing attraction:



Finally, we reached Yellowstone, or at least got really close. We hit Cooke City and stopped. Completely. Construction had lowered the next several miles of road to one lane, and cars were being guided through in groups about every ½ hour. So, we left our car in line and went into a mini mart for some quick supplies. Finally, we received a pilot car and we were on our way. We had to drive nearly across the park to get our chosen campground, but we got there, got the tent set, and headed out to see some sights.

Immediately we were greeted by a fox:



Apparently the auto-focus on my camera hated the fox, because it insisted on focusing on the heather behind it, but you get the idea.

On to Mammoth Hot Springs. At this point it was twilight with full on sunset coming quickly, but we got to see the springs, but thanks to the tripod, I was able to get some nice pictures:









Leaving here we went back to the campground. It was about this point that J1 stopped sleeping in the tent, deciding that the car was a touch warmer and softer.

Day 6 Devils Tower and Little Big Horn

This was probably my favorite campsite - for pure location - on the trip. The tower filled the frame of the tent window. My ankle hurt, but not nearly as much as the previous day. The Js were dragging that morning, so I got up that morning and made some Tasty Breakfast (eggs, potatoes, and onions). We found out the big drawback to the campsite: flies. So we all grabbed breakfast and ate in the car.

After breakfast we headed up to the Tower. So, we know that Devils tower is 1,267 foot of igneous rock, what we don’t know is how it got there. Some think the tower formed underground and the area eroded to expose it. The competing theory is roughly the same, but states that the tower is the remnant of an ancient volcano that eroded from around the tower, leaving the climbers’ paradise.

Devils Tower is yet another reason I love Theodore Roosevelt. Go Antiquities Act of 1906! Seeing that Congress was moving too slowly to declare Devils Tower a National Park, Teddy found a way to use the Antiquities Act to declare the area the first National Monument, protecting it from those who he saw wrecking it.

So, we made a quick tour of the museum and then headed up to the trail that circumnavigates the tower. After about ¼ mile, we left the trail and scrambled up the boulder field at the base of the tower. I can’t recommend this activity enough. Even with the walking stick and a twitchy ankle, the hours spent moving through the debris were absolute fun. The payoff of being AT the tower, able to look out for miles is great, but getting there is an absolute blast.



After getting back to the trail, we decided the prudent choice for my foot was to head back and get on the road. We headed toward Little Big Horn next, trusting to general directions and not the GPS this time. The GPS doesn’t do a good job of accounting for the speed on small roads in eastern Wyoming and Montana. So we made good time and avoided the interstate. As much as I love the mountains, the plains get an undeserved bad rap. They are beautiful as well.

We arrived at Little Big Horn at just before dusk, with a bit of rain in the distance.


Little Big Horn is another of those memorials to such a sad time. Custer made so many mistakes in judging his enemy and the terrain, while Crazy Horse – already with numbers on his side - fought nearly flawlessly. Outmanned, outgunned, and surrounded, Custer and his men shot their horses and used the corpses as an ineffective barrier. Because he was dressed in buckskin, and not an officer’s uniform, Custer’s body avoided the mutilation of the Sioux. The Sioux would mutilate the corpses of officer’s forcing their spirits to walk the Earth.



Since my visit as a youth, more effort is being made to acknowledge the Sioux and Cheyenne at the battlefield, markers are placed where deaths are confirmed and the “Indian Memorial” pictured above is placed near Last Stand Hill.



The National Monument also has a National Cemetery including veterans from the Indian Wars through Vietnam. It was closed for internment in 1978.

After taking a sobering couple hours at hear, we headed west another hour to Billings, MT. As a treat before we hit Yellowstone, and because I wasn’t sure I could make it through the city awake, we spent the night at the “C’Mon Inn” a nice little hotel with 2 pools and 5 hot tubs. Every one got to shower, swim, soak, and we had a good hot breakfast in the morning. A great respite that let us get a much earlier start the next day.